How can I insert a new line in a cmd.exe command?

Question

I'm trying to execute a command on cmd.exe, with a line break or new line as part of the command, like below:

command -option:text  
whatever

But every new line executes the command, instead of continuing the command on the next line.

So how can I input a new line character, or create a multi-line command in cmd.exe?

Answer 1

Use the ^ character as an escape:

command -option:text^

whatever

I'm assuming you're using cmd.exe from Windows XP or similar. This is not actual DOS. If you are using actual DOS (MS-DOS, Win3.1, Win95, Win98, WinME), then I do not believe there is an escape for newlines. You would need to run a custom shell. cmd.exe will prompt you for "More?" each time you press enter with a ^ at the end of the line, just press enter again to actually escape/embed a newline.

Answer 2

Use Alt codes with the numpad

C:\>ver

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600]

C:\>echo Line1◙Line2 >con
Line1
Line2

C:\>

That line feed character can be entered as an Alt code on the CLI using the numpad: with NumLock on, hold down ALT and type 10 on the numpad before releasing ALT. If you need the CR as well, type them both with Alt+13 and then Alt+10 : ♪◙

Note: this will not work in a batch file.

Sample use case:

You are trying to read the %PATH% or %CLASSPATH% environment variables to get a quick overview of what's there and in what order - but the wall of text that path returns is unreadable. Then this is something you can quickly type in:

echo %path:;=◙% >con

Edit:

Added the >con workaround that Brent Rittenhouse discovered for newer versions of cmd.exe, where the original method had stopped working.

Answer 3

Expanding on Amit's answer (https://superuser.com/a/1132659/955256) I found a way to do it in any font WITHOUT using the legacy console.

All you need to do is simply echo out the line with alt-10 characters and then redirect it to con and it will work!

For example, given:

(echo New-line detected rigghhhtt ◙^<--- HERE!) > CON

edit: Fun fact, it seems that you can put the redirection at the beginning like so:

> CON echo New-line detected rigghhhtt ◙^<--- HERE!

Weird, eh?

You will get an output of:

---

New-line detected rigghhhtt  
<-- HERE!

---

(The surrounding parenthesis are optional.)

Here is a more robust example of what you can do with this AND carriage returns which now work, and completely independently!:

Best of all, this works if you redirect to a file as well!
(simply change > CON to > desired_output_file.txt

Enjoy!

Answer 4

^ 's output are saveable

set br= ^
<</br (newline)>>
<</br>>

example:

@echo off
setlocal enableExtensions enableDelayedExpansion
rem cd /D "%~dp0"


rem //# need 2 [/br], can't be saved to a var. by using %..%;
set br= ^



set "t=t1!br!t2!br!t3"

for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%q in ("!t!") do (
    echo %%q
)


:scIn
rem endlocal
pause
rem exit /b

; output:

t1
t2
t3
Press any key to continue . . .

Answer 5

I don't know if this will work for you but by putting &echo (the following space is important). in between each statement that you want on a new line. I only tried this with a simple bat file of

echo %1

Then saved that as testNewLines.bat

So then the cmd line

testNewLines first line&echo Second Line&echo Third line

Resulted in the following being echoed back

first line
second line
Third line

Answer 6

I believe you can't do that from the Windows cmd.exe shell. (It is not DOS.)

---

You do not need a full "custom shell" for that. You will only need to write something like this (example in Python):

import subprocess
subprocess.call(["C:\\bin\\sometool.exe", "test\nwith\nnewlines"])

Or Ruby:

Kernel::exec "C:\\bin\\sometool.exe", "test\nwith\nnewlines"

See, it's not that hard.